Pail-filling and indicating device.



Patented Sept. 30, I902. J. H. WILSON.

PAIL FILLING AND INDICATING DEVICE.

A plication filed Nov. 14, 1898.)

(No Model.)

FULL. WITNESSES. E 2 e7 INVENTOR i m e BY an ATTORNEY.

THE NORRIS wz'rcns c0. PNOTD-LKTHQ. WASHINGTON. n c.

UNITED STATES PATENT GEETQE.

JAMES H. WILSON, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

PAIL-FILLING AND lNDlCATiNG DEVICE.

SPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 710,230, datedSeptember 30, 1902.

Application filed November 14, 1898. Serial No. 696,336- (No model.)

To all w7t07n it may concern.-

Be itknown that 1, JAMES H. WILsoN, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and State ofMassachusetts, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements inPail-Filling and Indicating Devices, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to pail-filling and indicating devices.

It is customary in factories and large workshops to distributefire-pails throughout the rooms at convenient intervals, and theselirepails are supposed to be filled with water in order to enable theoperatives to extinguish incipient conflagrations before the automaticsprinklers are set in operation by the rise of temperature and beforethe getting ready of more or less complicated fire-extinguishingapparatus. Such fire-pails are required by the rules of mostfactory-insurance compa nies to be kept on hand and to be kept filled.In order that the fire-pails may not be used as spittoons and asreceptacles for refuse materials and that they may be out of the waythey are commonly placed on hooks or shelves above the heads of theoperatives, so that the amount of water in the pails cannot bedetermined without taking down the pails. Hence the pails are notproperly inspected and when a fire breaks out are found to be in manycases nearly or quite empty,

' as from evaporation of the water or by the use of the water by theoperatives for washing their hands and faces.

The main object of this invention is to keep the pails full and tofurnish a means whereby Overseers and inspectors may know whether thepails are full or not without removing the pails from their supports,while at the same time supporting the pails in a position higher than amans head. This object I accomplish by the means hereinafter described,which comprise a supply-pipe having a suitable nozzle ordischarge-orifice and a valve, in combination with means for supportin afirepail or similar receptacle below said orifice in such a manner thatthe weight of such receptacle and its contents when said receptacle isproperly filled will operate to close said valve, and so that when anempty pail is properly so supported the water from said pipe flows intothe pail until the weight of the pail and the contained water issufficient to close the valve.

In practice I use a lever, one arm of which engages the stem of thevalve and the other arm of which carries means of supporting the pail,and I prefer to inolose said lever in a suitable case and to providesaid lever with a tag or indicator, which is concealed in the case whenthe pail is insufiiciently filled or is removed from the lever, butwhich indicator is thrown into view when the lever is in the position itoccupies when supportinga properly-filled pail. I use a weight partiallyto counterlmlance the weight of the filled pail and to open and to holdopen the valve until the pail is filled. I also provide an elec triccircuitwhich is closed by the opening of the valve, said circuitcontaining an audible alarm device, as a buzz-bell, which may bearranged in the same room with the other devices or in the office of theworkshop or factory, so that a removal of the pail will immediately callattention and tend to prevent such removal.

Said invention consists in the devices and combinations hereinafterdescribed and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of myimproved device se cured to a post; Fig. 2, a plan of the same, the postbeing in horizontal section; Fig. 3, an enlarged side elevation, thehollow bracket or case and the valve being in vertical longitudinalsection and the buzzbell being omitted; Fig. 4:, a side elevation of theweight and a part of the lever provided with the indicating-tag to showthe means of adjusting and securing the weight on the lever; Fig. 5, anend elevation of the lever, weight, and indicating-tag.

A indicates a floor-supporting postor other stationary object in a room;B, a water-supply pipe leading from any suitable source (not shown) andhaving a nozzle or discharge end I); (J, a valve arranged between thebody B of the pipe and the nozzle 12, that represented being abalance-valve of well-known form having an outer case 0, whichcommunicates with the pipe B, and having two disks 0' c on the samevalvestem 0 which close apertures of slightly-differing diameters in aninner case 0 which communicates with said nozzle 1), all these partsbeing of any suitable 'usual construction and operation.

D denotes a hollow bracket or case having ears d d, secured by bolts orscrews to the post A.

Within the case D is pivoted a scale-beam or lever E, having suitablepivots or knifeedges 6 which rest upon bearings d on the inner faces ofthe walls of said-case D. The

outer arm 6, or arm farthest from the post A,

projects from the case D and is provided with a book 6, upon which afire-pail F may be supported. The inner or long arm 6 of the lever Ecarries a weight (2, which is adjustable on said lever in such a mannerthat when the pail F contains the proper amount of water the weight '6will be raised to its highest position. The weight is represented asslotted in the top at e and as provided with a projection 6 which entersa longitudinal groove 6 in the side of the lever, allowing the weight toslide toward or from the fulcrum or knifeedges e. The weight after beingproperly adjusted to balance the pail and the desired amount of watertherein is secured by a set-screw e ,*which turns in the side ofthe'weight against the lever E, Figs. 3, 4, and 5. The arm 6 carries atag 6 (which may bear the word Full or other suitable sign,) formedtherewith or otherwise rigidly secured thereto, which tag is thrown upinto sight when the pail is properly filled, but at other times isconcealed within the case D.

The case D is provided with a top or cover 61 to exclude flyings anddust, and this cover may have an upward extension d to allow said tag torise above the general level of the top of the case, and the front andback of this extension maybe supplied Withglass windows. The valve stem0 extends down into the case and engages the arm e said stem beingprovided with pins or projections c 0, arranged above and below the freeend of said arm 6 so that when said arm 6 falls down upon the pin 0 itsweight opens the valve and allows the water to be discharged from thenozzle into the pail F, arranged on said lever immediately below saidnozzle.

When the pail is full enough to raise the arm 6 of the lever E, thevalve 0 is closed by the expansion of the spring 0 in the usual manner;but if the valve-stem should stick it will be raised by the arm estriking against the under side of the pin 0 When the valve-stemdescends, an electric circuit may be closed by the pin 0 striking aspring l and pressing the same against a contact-spot Z, said springbeing connected by wire L through a buzz-bell G or otherelectrically-operated signal to one pole of a battery H and saidcontact-spot being connected by the line L to the other pole of saidbattery.

I claim as my invention-- The combination of a supply-pipe, having asuitable nozzle, a valve, to close said pipe, having a stem providedwith projections,.a lever, having an arm, provided with means forsupporting a vessel and with a heavier arm, the free end of whichreaches between said projections and is adapted, when said vessel isempty, to strike one of said projections, to open saidvalve, and to beforced, by the weight of said pail and its contents, when said pail isproperly filled, to strike the other of said projections and to closesaid valve, and an open electric circuit, containing a circuit-closer,adapted to be closed by said valve-stem, when said valve is opened, anda signal arranged in said circuit and operated by the closing of thesame.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

' JAS. H. WILSON.

Witnesses: I

GRACE E. HIBBERT, ALBERT M. MOORE.

